Kid Win's First Girlfriend
by DeAnno
Summary: In one Universe, Kid Win crushes on one of the Wards. In a slightly different Universe, Kid Win crushes on one of the Wards.
1. Connection

**Connection**

**Universe T**

"You should just talk to her," Dennis said, "I mean, you fought Leviathan together right? You were really cool driving her around on your hoverboard like that, she isn't going to just shut you down."

"She's just so ... intense. I really like her but I'm kind of afraid of her," Chris hedged. "I'm not sure how to get her to notice me as a guy and not just like, 'Kid Win, Tinker 4, specialties lasers and antigravity'."

"That's kind of a good point." Dennis didn't have his costume on, but Chris could imagine the little clocks all circling around as he paused, thinking about the issue. "Maybe you could make her something? Like, a present? Use the intenseness in your favor."

"Would I make her lasers for her bugs? I don't think I could shrink them down enough, and Armsmaster probably isn't going to help just to help me get a girlfriend, and even if he did then it would mostly be Armsmaster making the present and not me, and eww, and -"

"Bad chain of thought there Mr. Win. You're an inventive guy, I'm sure you'll think of something cool you can make soon enough. I mean, she's Taylor right? I'm sure she could turn the shittiest thing you could possibly give her into a weapon of mass destruction or something anyway."

* * *

**Universe S**

"You should just talk to her," Dennis said, "I mean, you fought Leviathan together right? You distracted him with your giant gun when she was darting around getting some shots in, she had to think that was cool."

"She's just so ... intense. I really like her but I'm kind of afraid of her," Chris hedged. "I'm not sure how to get her to notice me as a guy and not simultaneously decide to stomp on me like a bug." For some reason, in hindsight, that seemed like a weird analogy to Chris, but Dennis didn't notice the momentary look on his face and moved on.

"That's kind of a good point. Maybe you could show her how tough you are again? I'm setting up the patrol schedules for this week, I could switch things around so you had both of yours with her? You're one of the only ones who can keep up with her anyway."

Chris was simultaneously excited and afraid. Sophia seemed to provoke that reaction in him a lot. "That's a great idea Dennis!" Second thoughts were quick in coming though, "How could I impress _Shadow Stalker _though? She's a total badass, and I can't use the Alternator Cannon on a normal patrol."

"I'm sure you'll think of something Kid. You're an inventive guy, you just have to keep that in mind and look for opportunities." Dennis paused and then continued, "At least she'll be in a good mood. Streets filled with this post-Leviathan chaos are like a jungle safari for her."

* * *

For the past two days, Kid Win had been spending lots of time training in the gym. Today, perhaps not coincidentally, he was the only person there. He pulled another tight turn on his hoverboard, juking through the rafters of the gym and letting three laser bolts loose at the targets lined up on the wall. They all missed the targets, but at least hit the correct wall, so he counted that as improvement.

Kid Win didn't think he would be able to impress Shadow Stalker with more Tinker devices. First, he didn't think he could come up with anything very useful on short notice. Second, did he really need more than his laser guns and his hoverboard anyway? Shadow Stalker got by with speed and phasing and a trusty ranged weapon, and he didn't think he'd be able to come up with any impressive defenses to round out his style, especially not in time for the first patrol.

But you didn't need great defenses if you didn't get hit. He'd souped up his hoverboard a little before Leviathan, giving him better speed and general performance than before; he was half convinced that it had saved his life. If Kid Win could become a good enough flier, not getting hit could be his thing. Also, Clockblocker assured him the stunt shooting looked really cool.

Just as he was lining up for another go, he heard a cough behind him. Armsmaster. The miniaturization Tinker had been moody (well, moodier than usual) ever since losing his solo confrontation with Leviathan, but Kid Win was actually a little amazed that he survived it at all. Granted, he didn't survive it by very much, but that was what Panacea was for.

"You've been training hard lately," Armsmaster said. "Any specific reason? Your style up until this point was to spend most of your time in the workshop."

Kid Win paused at that, and briefly wondered how best to twist preparing to show off for Shadow Stalker into good work ethic. "When I was up against Leviathan I think I realized all the gear in the world is no good if you don't know how to use it. My aim with the Alternator Canon was sloppy and I didn't land enough square hits, and I don't think I'm getting the most I can get out of the improved maneuverability on my hoverboard yet."

Armsmaster nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Being able to use your gear well in the field is the difference between a hero and a lab tech. I don't fight in the same style as you do, but I've seen similar setups before. You need to use a different shooting grip when you aren't mostly vertical; come down and I'll show you."

* * *

**Universe T**

Even if Clockblocker was confident that Weaver would be able to put just about anything to use, Kid Win was still worried he was so bad a Tinker that he might well produce something below the level of 'just about anything.' He'd spent so much time on the project's moddability features (which weren't even useful yet) and at the same time he wasn't even sure how to get the basic triggering mechanism to work properly.

The idea of the stun net had actually been pretty good, he thought. Weaver had been constantly fighting a battle against the PR department since she became a hero, and even though she had frighteningly many ways of incapacitating a villain herself, most of them were at least as gruesome as swarming a guy with hornets and stinging him into submission, or involved using up a supply of silk ropes that weren't quite infinite even for her. The stun net was to be a lightweight (slightly antigravity assisted, at that), recyclable tool that didn't get her screamed at every time she used it.

Even from a more tactical perspective, the lasers directed through the net's fiber optics were a mode of attack she didn't currently have, letting her take down Brutes and Breakers that might ordinarily be resistant to her bugs. Breakers like Shadow Stalker, specifically. He knew Weaver was still quietly furious about being taken down so easily by the umbral Undersider at the Fundraiser, and that her current powerset was more or less hard countered by Shadow Stalker's phasing tricks. Really, it was Weaver's stubborn unwillingness to lose in any situation that he was counting on with his present for her.

Of course, a stunning net had to be triggered, and for Weaver it only made sense for the ultra-lightweight net to be delivered by bugs and triggered by bugs. But how do you build a trigger only a bug can use exactly? How strong was a housefly, what sort of space could it fit into, and what kind of mechanism was best for it to push? Kid Win knew he could get all the answers from Weaver herself, but if he had to ask her about it that would ruin the surprise, which was a crucial part of the plan he and Clockblocker had talked about for getting her to agree to the date.

"Working on something?" A monitor to his left lit up with Dragon's avatar, an innocent look on her face and a mischievous cast to her voice.

"Hi Dragon! Actually I am, but it's just a minor project really, nothing important." Kid Win was pretty surprised at Dragon showing up unexpectedly; he'd gotten a little bit of help for her ironing out one or two issues on previous projects, but those had been more like official appointments than her just dropping in to say hello.

"Don't short sell your work. The things we make for others are more important than what we make for ourselves, in a lot of ways. I noticed you were having some trouble with your trigger setup there and sent you an email with some specifications you might find useful."

"Wow! Thanks." Kid Win quickly loaded it up, and it was way more than he would have ever expected. It didn't just have the physical properties he needed, but already had some design suggestions for integrating them right into his work, even with variable outputs and backup features. "This is so much Dragon ... Armsmaster is probably going to be annoyed you didn't spend the time on his gear instead."

Dragon laughed.

* * *

Taylor was nominally watching TV in the rec room with Missy, but she was mostly zoning out, probably paying attention to the spiders weaving upstairs or a patrol of flies three blocks away or crabs digging for buried treasure at the beach. Missy was stubbornly enjoying girl time with Taylor in spite of this. Chris was about to back away and try again later, but Missy noticed him standing around awkwardly out of the corner of her eye and excitedly waved him over.

Chris wasn't sure if he regretted Dennis bringing Missy in on the conspiracy or not. He supposed he would find out soon enough. He walked over as a commercial blared annoyingly about Fugly Bob's grand reopening this week. "Hi Taylor! What's going on?"

Taylor looked up sharply, and seemed a little at a loss for how to respond. "Things are good, I guess. Vista and I were watching television, did you want to join us?"

Chris froze up too for a second, but then felt something bump on his back (even though Missy was too-innocently half-watching the commercial in front of him) and started, "I actually finished a project recently in my workshop. I wasn't sure where it was going for a while, but-"

"Vista, real quick, can I get 15 extra feet Northeast? Thanks. Sorry Kid Win, you were saying?" Missy's facade of watching the TV faded further as she multitasked between using her power and fixating on vicarious love drama. The rec room bent into something like an Escher diagram in the background.

"So, anyways Taylor, I-really-like-you-like-you-and-I-made-you-this-net," Chris forgot his speech and spat out the main points quickly, brandishing the net from behind his back. Taylor was silent. Behind her, Missy quietly face-palmed.

After a long pause, Taylor quietly stated "It's a very shiny net."

"It's for your bugs! Well, not to catch bugs, because obviously you don't need that, but to catch people! It's really lightweight and made out of fiber optic so it can diffuse a stun laser through it and knockout anyone you get it around." This was ten times more stressful than getting stuff past PRT review (the net had finally passed this morning. Chris wasn't quite dumb enough to give a girl a gift she couldn't even use.)

"Oh." Flies, spiders, and other miscellaneous insects seemed to almost materialize from nowhere. And also Taylor's hair. Chris wasn't sure how he felt about that. They crawled over the net, spazzing about wildly, seemingly inspecting its every fiber as Taylor sort of blankly looked at Chris. "Yeah, the switching mechanism is built in here right?" She indicated a solid spot with a crevice just big enough for a fly. "Ooh, and these links are detachable?"

"Yeah, I built in some places where you could snap it onto another one, or maybe attach something different to it. I couldn't really think of anything different to put there yet though and I don't have the materials for more segments yet so-" Chris felt another bump in the back, courtesy of folded space and good aim. He figured that was a sign to get to the point, even though Taylor seemed to be paying the net more attention than him now. "So, do you want to go out somewhere this weekend? I wasn't sure when you would be free, but ..." Chris trailed off.

Taylor had the blank look again, and the bugs seemed to rile up a little bit, but then she flinched as if poked. "Umm ... I'd love to. That big movie theater is reopening today isn't it? We could go out on Friday night."

"That'd be great!" Chris was on top of the world.

Missy grinned.

* * *

**Universe S**

The dusk patrol with Shadow Stalker was going both better and worse than expected. On the plus side, she hadn't insulted him yet. On the minus side, she hadn't talked to him yet. Their respective methods of mobility actually made talking pretty difficult.

Kid Win had been practicing on his hoverboard for the past three days nonstop, but it was still pretty difficult to follow Shadow Stalker's odd mix of rooftop running, limited parkour, and high speed moon jumps at anything like conversation distance, especially in a reasonably unobtrusive manner. He settled for a moderately winding path following her lead and descending close behind her on the flatter stretches. He decided to delude himself into thinking that it was a companionable silence.

After one of her long, high jumps, Shadow Stalker stopped on the roof ahead and signaled to Kid Win just before stealthily creeping forward. Usually she didn't bother interacting with her partner at all, so he took the signal as a good sign. Just as he was catching up to her position again, she sprung down aggressively around the roof towards the scene in the alley below. Without knowing quite what was going on yet, he followed her over the edge, corkscrewing through a 90 degree turn for a surprise entrance, guns akimbo.

The scene they burst in on was composed of more than a dozen miscellaneously armed thugs surrounding two girls who looked barely into their teens, one of them wildly swinging a baseball bat and the other cowering on the ground in fear. While Shadow Stalker's policy of shooting everyone first and asking questions possibly never had gotten her in trouble a few times, it seemed appropriate here.

Shadow Stalker managed two efficient shots on the way down and Kid Win got off four with his two guns, but both of her tranq bolts connected and he only brought one target down, wary of hitting the victims and mostly missing wide. Twelve or so gangers were left vs. the two wards, and it should have been easy from there. Unfortunately, at that point what seemed like all the accumulated debris, junk, and soaked trash of the alley sort of imploded on one of the thugs as jumped up to face his attackers.

Mush, which meant these were Merchants; what a surprise. Luckily, Mush was an idiot, and a garbage propelled jump sent him straight through Shadow Stalker and into the alley wall. As she momentarily dropped out of shadow state to skip up off the same wall and engage, Kid Win dropped to street level to deal with the thugs and help the girls.

He managed to knock out another minion as he finished his dive, but at that point half of the remaining Merchants had their guns out and Kid Win had to use all the tricks he learned in the gym to dodge out of their lines of fire. He couldn't focus on much more than keeping alive and shooting back as he weaved around the alley's fire escapes and other obstacles, but he noticed one of the thugs had run off and another was doing surprisingly poorly in his personal battle against the girl with the baseball bat. His hoverboard took one bullet seemingly without being damaged, and another grazed his side without doing much more than damaging his costume (he hoped that wouldn't come out of his stipend.) The ward realized this couldn't last forever and acted quickly.

Kid Win got some momentary cover as he dodged behind a dumpster Mush's activating power had knocked over, and pulled every last bit he could out of his hoverboard to 180 and come out upside down on the same side he entered, which was the opposite side the Merchant thugs were expecting. Another four shots took another one of them down this time, leaving six left engaging him. Before they could get their bearings though, Sophia blitzed through their ranks from above, knocking one out with a brutal backhand to the temple as she passed by them and then Kid Win.

"SWITCH, his stupid biology is ignoring the knockout drugs!" Shadow Stalker sounded _pissed_ as she flashed out of and back into shadow state to convey that information, and just as she jumped off again Mush barreled down from above in her wake, knocking over one of his minions that hadn't gotten out of the way in time.

Where Shadow Stalker had retreated back, Kid Win went up and over, peppering Mush with stun lasers to distract him from Shadow Stalker. The shots didn't do much but knock off tiny bits of trash from his disgusting and amorphous form, but they did get his attention and Kid Win was rapidly dodging tentacles of unspeakable grossness. Some of the remaining thugs tried to support their boss with more gunfire, but sniper shots from Shadow Stalker diverted their attention and left Kid Win one on one.

Kid Win was able to stay mostly clear of Mush's attacks, but he could see why Shadow Stalker was so frustrated; his lasers weren't doing much of anything either. He could land twenty hits to Mush's one, but if his twenty hits barely did anything and Mush's tentacle slam took him out of the fight he would still lose. After dodging below another of Mush's wild leaps, Kid Win had an idea and quickly used his thumbs to adjust both of the selectors on his laser pistols.

Mush came at him again, expecting to tank the next volley of shots as easily as he'd tanked the last, but met an unpleasant surprise as huge chunks of his wet garbage dried up and flaked away with every shot. The ultra-dehydration setting (which did practically nothing to living things) on his lasers had been a failed experiment against Leviathan's torrents of water, but Mush lacked the same sheer volume of wetness to bring to bear and the esoteric setting now worked as intended.

After a few more desperate swings and lunges by Mush, more than half of his accumulated waste was gone, and he seemed pretty woozy to boot. Kid Win momentarily wondered if taking this many shots from the dehydrators was still safe for a person, but his thoughts ended up irrelevant as Mush passed out and his power disengaged, leaving the villain unconscious in a pile of inert trash.

Shadow Stalker brutally finished off the last of the thugs at the same time, and the baseball bat girl was cheerily kicking her fallen assailant in the ribs. Shadow Stalker gave her an opaque look, and a moment later nodded and proceeded to brutally secure the downed thugs with plastic cuffs. Kid Win figured he might as well just secure Mush and not ask questions.

After the ugly process of picking him up, cuffing him, and dragging him out of his trash pile over to the opposite wall, Kid Win opened up on the remaining wet garbage with his dehydrators until it was bone dry and hopefully useless for Mush. Shadow Stalker was just finishing up at this point, and turned his way.

Sometimes, Kid Win didn't think things through. He trusted his instincts and decided to give Mush's prone body a kick of his own. Sophia's face couldn't be seen behind the mask, but somehow he could tell she was smiling by the look in her eyes.


	2. Installation

**Installation**

**Universe T**

It was the big night. Chris had gotten his pep talk from Dennis and Missy, in which they spent most of the time arguing with each other. Chris had gotten dressed nicely, but not too nicely, as Missy had warned him that Taylor probably wouldn't dress up much. Chris had proposed they see True Grit on the advice of Dennis, who claimed that most workaholic heroes like Westerns, because 'They don't want to see a movie about capes, but really, deep down inside, they do. It's all they know.' There was one thing he couldn't prepare for though. His friends couldn't help, all his life experience was useless, and even if he had a Tinker device to help with the problem it would probably be too obvious to use.

Chris was picking Taylor up at her place. This meant he was going to meet her father.

He tried not to worry as he approached her house, but it really was a pretty intimidating situation. Not only did Taylor's dad work at the docks, but Taylor herself was taller than he was. He imagined her father as a hulking musclebound giant with all of Taylor's ruthless pragmatism and none of her friendly demeanor. Kid Win wasn't so confident against Brutes at the best of times, much less out of costume, so he was more than a little nervous as he rang the doorbell.

The man who opened the door was tall, but lanky, and not really intimidating. "Hi. Are you Chris? Taylor will probably be down in just a minute. Call me Danny."

"Hello Mr. H- Danny. I guess she probably already knows I'm here actually. I'm not even sure why I rang the bell," Chris joked lamely. Danny didn't react strongly, but his expression did dim a bit. Tough crowd.

"She finds out a lot of things these days. Sometimes I wish I knew as much about what she was doing," Danny muttered. "Sorry. Anyways, would you like some water?"

"We're probably going to get drinks at the movie." Chris decided right after he said it that this was a dumb thing to say, since he had nothing to do but talk and water would've been an excuse. As he flailed awkwardly Taylor came downstairs to rescue him.

She was wearing baggy blackened jeans and a light gray blouse. She had her hair down as usual, and he couldn't tell if there were any bugs in it, but he decided she was stunning either way. "Hi Chris, Dad. We should get going so we aren't late for the movie." She turned to her father. "Don't wait up, I might swing a patrol after."

"Right," Danny said. He had a pained look on his face. "Make sure she has fun Chris."

"Goodbye Dad." Taylor threw on a jacket, and then grabbed Chris' hand and guided him out the door. Chris wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but he supposed it was all OK since Taylor was holding his hand.

The movie theater they were going to wasn't all that far away, so they'd decided to walk. This part of town wasn't in very bad shape three weeks after Leviathan's assault, and it was deep enough in Undersider territory that there wasn't much to worry about from the Merchants here. Chris actually suspected they might have something do with the theater's rapid reopening, but declined to voice his suspicions in the hopes Taylor wouldn't be any more distracted than usual.

Taylor had a tendency to walk quickly, and Chris sort of felt like he was getting tugged along by her hand. He didn't exactly mind, and he wasn't out of shape, but he was still sort of happy that they only had a few blocks to go. She'd been quiet since they left the house, but she somehow seemed more relaxed than distracted so that was probably fine. She tended not to make much small talk at the best of times.

"Did you want to go to dinner after?" Taylor said. "The movie is two hours long, we'll probably be pretty hungry by the end even with popcorn." Apparently this was better than the best of times. Chris was encouraged.

"Yeah. I was thinking it made more sense to do the movie first so we didn't get there at the wrong time and have to wait." He had been worried about miscalculating how much time dinner would take and looking like an idiot.

"That's smart. This way definitely seems more efficient. I wonder why people usually call it 'dinner and a movie'." Taylor was definitely on board with the plan.

"It could be that it sounds better that way. Or maybe people don't want to ruin their dinners with snacky movie food?"

"That could be it. Adults don't want their kids to spoil dinner, so they purposely set out the order that way in all the stories." Taylor seemed happy with her slightly ridiculous conclusion, nodding her head and settling back into a comfortable silence.

Soon they arrived at the theater and got in line for tickets. Chris had been prepared to buy hers (Missy and Dennis had been in agreement on this), but Taylor sort of jumped ahead of him and bought her own ticket before he had the chance. After he got his ticket and they went inside, they decided they were hungry enough for drinks and some popcorn even with dinner after.

Taylor scanned the menu as they waited in line. "It'll be cheaper if we share a big drink. Do you like ice tea?"

Chris didn't have a clue how she analyzed the menu to figure that out and also had never had ice tea before, but decided it was best to go along with her idea. "Sure." Maybe she would let him buy the food.

When they reached the end of the line, both walked up to the cashier together. Chris was about to say something, but suddenly was seized by doubt: should he order two medium popcorns or one larger popcorn?

It was actually a pretty complicated problem. Taylor had already suggested the big drink, which both meant that the big popcorn was probably also better (though if it was, why hadn't she said that too?) and that she didn't have a problem with sharing it, but he didn't _know_ it was better because that involved both the sizes and the costs and he couldn't figure it out under all this stress. Besides that, would she think he was being too forward if he merged the other thing she hadn't declared mergable yet?

"We'll have a large iced tea and a large popcorn, please," Taylor said. And now Chris has missed his chance. At least she probably wouldn't get annoyed with him for spacing out, since she did that all the time too.

Taylor paid for things and grabbed the drink, but luckily seemed to accept the few dollars Chris had frantically grabbed out of his pocket with aplomb. He got the popcorn with his other hand, and before he quite knew what was happening Taylor grabbed his first, money-passing, hand again and took him across the floor at Taylor speed.

Chris wasn't sure how Taylor had even figured out where to go yet, but she seemed to sense his confusion and explained. "The letters this place uses in the movie signs stick out. Also the kids three places in front of us got tickets to it, and are already heading that way."

"Oh, that's clever," Chris replied. Once again, he was reminded her power never turned off, and that it was a very literal sixth sense for her. Maybe actually a primary sense.

Glancing at the popcorn he was carrying as Taylor took a sip of the soda (she'd gotten two straws), he wondered what the sanitation conditions of the food stand had been. Taylor would definitely know if there were bugs around, but would she care? If she didn't care, should he care? He didn't find himself that worried about the sanitation conditions of Taylor herself, and she was covered in bugs all the time.

His thoughts on the matter were interrupted when they reached the theater. It was already fairly dark inside, either because it was about to start or the building was still having some lightning issues, but Taylor's pace didn't slow at all and she quickly led Chris over to the block of seats on the side. She sort of scooted Chris into the back row and then sat down in the aisle seat. By the time Chris had sat down next to her, she had already plunked the ice tea down in the divider between them and was taking another sip of it.

Chris wasn't sure if she had homed in on the back row for the classic reason or not, but decided that it was fortunate either way. Dennis had been really insistent on the subject of getting seats in the back, but the way Taylor moved Chris hadn't even remembered that until they'd sat down. Maybe Missy had given her the same advice?

* * *

**Universe S**

Chris stared at the computer screen, glanced at the supplemental monitor to his right, and then stared at the first screen some more. It would be one thing if Armsmaster's program was entirely incomprehensible, but with the annotations by Dragon it was almost making some sense. The key word, unfortunately, being almost.

There was a perfunctory knock on the door, and before Chris even managed to spin around in his chair Dean was stepping in. "It seemed like you were looking for an excuse to be distracted. Anyways, it's past 1 AM. Spending another night at the office?" he joked.

Chris slumped in his chair. "I probably could use a break from chipping away at this brick wall. Better than math homework at least."

"Your reprieve from state mandated torture and your unconventional sleep schedule won't last much longer; word on the street is schools reopen next Wednesday," Dean said.

"You didn't hear that on the street. It was in the paper today." Almost more out of a sense of perversity than duty or interest, Chris spun back to look at the stubborn lines of code and the simulator running on the screens. Dean tended to wander away from eye contact during conversations anyway. "Why is it always a Wednesday? You'd think they would want to start with a full week."

The conversation trailed off awkwardly, as Chris stared his stare at the just barely indecipherable program and Dean lurked, ostensibly looking on with interest and actually floundering while he looked for the right words to raise a subject. "So. Shadow Stalker."

"Shadow Stalker," Chris agreed.

"You like her. You like-her-like-her," Dean stated. "She's … well -"

"I know," Chris said grimly. "It's hopeless, because Sophia likes _crossbows,_ not boys. Because I'm a loser and she's a cool kid. Because our astrological signs don't match. Because she has a 3-rated Breaker power of all things and she's badass enough to make it really work, and I'm a Tinker and I'm still barely useful. Because -"

"No, actually," Dean said, interrupting another of Chris' self-bashing diatribes. "She does sort of like you. Maybe like-you-like-you even. She's just sort of all-around crazy, is the thing." He paused, and smiled a little. "I thought I should probably warn you. Don't tell her I told you though. About the like-like thing, not the crazy thing. She might kill me or something."

Chris smiled, the code still didn't make sense, but really, who cared? "Sure Dean, you're really one to talk about not dating crazy girls."

* * *

This patrol was already going better than the last one. Kid Win hadn't gotten much out of his prediction program yet, but it was strangely effective at helping him follow Shadow Stalker's erratic movements on patrol. The helpful arrows lit up intermittently in the overlay on his visor, letting him use his speed to stay fairly near her.

She wasn't even objecting to Kid Win's rather clumsy social move, and in fact struck up a sort of conversation, "So. That girl from last time with the bat. What did you think of her?"

Did Shadow Stalker know her? Was she trying to set him up? Was she jealous? Kid Win cast blindly for a good answer, "Err, she was pretty young wasn't she? It was impressive that she held her own so well, actually."

Shadow Stalker nodded in the corner of his eye. It appeared his answer was acceptable, if for unclear reasons. They moved across the beaten up city quickly and quietly for another minute or so, their paths diverging for a bit as his prediction program spat out a couple bad guesses.

Their paths converged again, and Shadow Stalker asked, "What about the people that don't fight back? The ones just letting scum like the Merchants walk all over them?"

This was a harder question, but it told him more too. Kid Win recalled some things Sophia had said in the past when trying to formulate an answer. "Sometimes people don't fight because they know they can't win. That's sort of the reason the Government pays heroes, I think."

Shadow Stalker's body language started to take a more negative cast, but then Kid Win continued, "I don't think that logic works in a situation like this though. All the controls that society usually puts on capes, all the unwritten rules they expect them to follow, nobody pays attention to them in chaos like this. You have to fight people like the Merchants even if you know you can't win, because they won't show you any mercy if you give up. People who don't fight back at all now just make the criminals bolder, and make things harder for people like us to fix."

Shadow Stalker said nothing for a while after that, even though Kid Win managed to maintain reasonable speaking distance. She spoke again after another few blocks. "So people fighting like that, are they just prey, acting on instinct to defend the herd? Or are they something more, fighting for themselves?"

Kid Win said, "When we fought Leviathan, we didn't really think we could win. Hold him off at best, get slaughtered at worst. It's a lot like how it must've been for that girl in the alley. Maybe to Leviathan we were all prey, but I know that every shot I took, I wanted to take a piece out of him."

Shadow Stalker replied more quickly this time, seeming to be on more familiar ground, "Everything wants to climb the food chain. It's the natural order. If you can hurt an Endbringer, prove you can be stronger, that stays with you forever."

After that, Shadow Stalker sped up ahead of him, changing from her bouncy moonwalk to lower, quicker jumps. She weaved in and out of alleys, across streets, around, over, and even through buildings. It was a challenging pace even with his improved hoverboard, and he pushed it to match her maneuvers, relying on his prediction software not to lose her on blind turns.

Kid Win knew this was her top speed, and she'd never used it on patrol with him before. They couldn't be as careful now, watching every dark corner of the route, but he felt that their punishing speed had a value all its own. The criminals would flinch in fear at their blitzkrieg approach, and even the civilians might appreciate the aerial show they were putting on.

Shadow Stalker was really pressing herself. On the rare occasions Kid Win got close enough, he could hear her breathing heavily, see the exertion in her frame. For him it was more a mental challenge of flawless piloting, but it was tiring all the same, and the physical control technique he used on the hoverboard meant he got a workout all the same. The wind raced at him through the night air as she climbed in front of him to the taller buildings downtown.

She seemed to tire slightly, and Kid Win was making up distance when she flipped herself onto the highest roof in the area, temporarily passing out of sight. The hoverboard whined as he ascended at a steep angle, and he fell into a bit of a stall as he crested the roof.

The sight that greeted him on the roof gave him a shock. Instead of her powering over the other side as he expected, she was waiting near the edge, her mask taken off and discarded on the ground. Taking advantage of his confusion, she pulled him off his hoverboard and ripped off his own mask, bringing them both down hard onto the gravel rooftop and letting his ride glide to a stop nearby.

Chris landed on top of Sophia, straddling her as her penetrating eyes stared right into his. Far above the rest of city and any watching eyes, she panted out "Are you a predator?"

Chris kissed her, and in the space of three heartbeats she kissed him back hard, flipped him over onto his back, and grinded into him over the loose rocks.

* * *

**Universe T**

After dinner, Taylor decided she wanted to go on that late patrol after all, and Chris was walking with her toward the PRT HQ. She kept up her typical pace, but Chris felt more used to it now, and besides holding hands with her was nice.

Over the course of the movie and dinner, Chris had slowly come to a realization that should've been obvious, in hindsight. Taylor liked to take the lead. She would plan routes, order things, talk to people, and handle checks. She'd even been the one to put _her _arm around _his_ shoulder first in the movie theater, accompanied by a chaste kiss on the cheek and a whispered comment that nobody was watching.

It was remarkably liberating. Chris often worried about making mistakes or doing the wrong thing, and worse, getting called out on it and embarrassed. Taylor was content to lead him around and direct events without needing much input, and administrated away all the little obstacles that came up without even thinking about it much or coming out of her distant persona.

Up until the end of dinner, Taylor was so hard to read that he hadn't been sure she was enjoying herself, but between her less-than-chaste after dinner kiss and the enthusiastic way she decided on the late patrol, Chris rested easy knowing that things were going well.

With seeming spontaneity, Taylor asked, "Do you want to jog the rest of the way? It's good to keep in shape."

Chris was a little leery of the remaining distance, but nodded his head in agreement as she released his hand and started powering down the block. With dinner still in his stomach it was an effort to get started, but the nice view of a bouncing Taylor from behind certainly didn't hurt.

As they reached the secret PRT entrance Chris was wheezing for breath, but he had kept up with Taylor the whole way. Taylor looked more collected but was glistening with sweat; her damp top made for a hypnotizing but not-quite-explicit view in the pale light of the garage. Taylor didn't seem to notice Chris' trouble making eye contact as she activated the door and moved them into the passageway.

After they entered the Ward's inner sanctum, Taylor took a bit longer to change, leaving Kid Win to chat with Clockblocker as he did some pre-outing tuning on his hoverboard. Kid Win was pretty sure Clockblocker had taken mission control tonight solely because he expected this would happen and wanted to spy on their date.

With a sly edge to his voice, Clockblocker asked, "So, did things go well? You sat in the back at the movies like I said right?"

"It was really fun." Kid Win neglected to answer the comment about the back row. He felt that maybe he should say more, but he was still a little tired, and focused on cleaning the drive coil properly anyway.

He needn't have worried, as he'd given Clockblocker all he needed. "_Really _fun, you say? Is that Chris-ese for lots of kissing in the back of the movie or did you steal second base too?"

At this point, the swarm that had been subtly gathering in control interjected, "_You know I can hear you, right Dennis?_" Clockblocker jumped, startled, while Kid Win just snickered a bit. Somehow, the bizarre combination of buzzes and clicks wasn't as startling anymore. He'd gotten sort of inured to insect creepiness over the course of the movie, feeling the bugs nesting in Taylor's hair as she cuddled up to him.

Weaver appeared in person before Clockblocker managed to recover his composure, and he said to her, "You know my intentions are entirely noble right? I just want to make sure that your _activity_ is going well, and that there won't be any tensions on the team."

Weaver didn't visibly react, but a tiny bit of bug overlay crept into her reply, "Not tense at all. We're absolutely relaxed." She grabbed Kid Win's hand confidently as he put his hoverboard under his arm, and continued in her normal voice, "So do you want to take off from the roof?"

Chris agreed and they left a bemused Clockblocker behind, entering the stairwell. He asked, "So you wanted to do this patrol entirely aerially? We haven't done any flying together since ..."

"Leviathan," she finished. "Yeah, that was pretty hectic, which is why I want to get a better feel for things in the air on the unofficial trip tonight."

Looking into the skyline from the roof of the PRT building, Brockton Bay somehow seemed majestic and mysterious instead of beaten up and flooded. The patches of darkness where power hadn't been restored contrasted with the shine off the remaining water pools.

Kid Win explained as he started up his board and climbed on, "It should be easier with you behind and holding onto me like last time. Its tricky for other people to understand how to balance properly on this thing even with the antigrav assist."

Weaver nodded and climbed on behind him, looping her arms around his chest. Before the stability and power improvements he'd made before Leviathan doing something like this would be pretty unwise, but now the hoverboard had the brute force to handle two people easily.

He took off slowly, swooping into a patrolling route as Weaver got used to the hoverboard again. He supposed that limiting his speed also let her build up a better swarm, so he tried to acclimate her to flying by making gentle S-curves that wouldn't push her control bubble forward that quickly.

After ten minutes or so, Weaver spoke up, "Staying on my feet isn't as hard as I expected." She was still motionless, holding onto Kid Win pretty tightly from behind, but his arms were free, and he supposed she didn't have any need to actually move or even look down during this sort of patrol. It was a pretty good situation.

"The antigravity sort of pins you to the hoverboard; instead of a tendency to topple down you have a tendency to topple back up to a standing position." They'd done much rougher maneuvers while evading Leviathan and she hadn't fallen off, so he figured that feature was probably working as intended and this was pretty safe.

"Hey, do you want to see something cool? Head over to that wetter area." She clarified her intent by turning him slightly from behind, and it was pretty clear what she was talking about from the glare of lights over the standing water.

Kid Win complied, wondering if the cool thing would be a bunch of criminals screaming in pain as she subdued them from blocks away. He supposed that she might use the net on one of them at least.

As they glided over though, he didn't hear anything, and she didn't seem to want to course correct to a more specific path. When they'd reached the center of the wet area, Taylor simply said, "Fireflies."

Around them, the sky lit up, flashing in time like a neon sign. She explained, "The population exploded here because of the stagnant water, and there are enough to do a lot of signaling and cool effects." She formed spirals of light around them, seemed to unwind them into vast wings, and then dissolved them into a huge halo.

"You can write with these too, right? I guess it might not be too useful since you can already talk with them, but maybe you could make maps."

"Yes, and more. Look at this." Just in front of them, a street map encompassing Taylor's range appeared, outlining roads and buildings in flashing light. As they drifted forward the map scrolled to show the changing area, and people both outside and inside were represented by fireflies that started pulsing at a faster frequency to differentiate them from walls.

"This is really amazing. You should keep a bunch of these at the base so you can keep using this trick." In a way, Kid Win was jealous that for Weaver to make a new useful thing, she didn't have to labor in the workshop for days or weeks and then spend all the effort to get it past review. She just had to have the idea, and do it, and there it was. It was just the Tinker's dilemma, he decided.

"Yeah, I'm gathering up some mated females and I'm going to try to maintain a population. Maybe if we circle around -", Taylor cut off in mid sentence, and Kid Win heard the generalized buzzing amp up slightly.

She moved her right arm from his chest to pick up her communicator, calling into Clockblocker. She made her announcement to both of them at the same time. "Bodies. Three of them, and it's bad. At Maple and Cross, Southwest side of the Docks. The old church there." As she spoke, a new trio of fireflies appeared near the front edge of her scrolling map and pulsed rapidly there.

After a pause he heard Clockblocker say, "Check it out. You should be getting Velocity as backup in a minute or so."

"Ok, " she replied. Then, to Kid Win, "Let's go. Fast. We can deal with the fireflies later." They sped up too quickly for the fireflies in the map to keep up and it disintegrated as they left them behind.


	3. Execution

**Execution**

**Universe S**

Chris really, really, _really_ had not expected this to happen.

He laid on his back under the sky, with Sophia resting quietly on his chest. He wasn't sure if she was asleep or awake; her eyes were closed, but she was nuzzling down into him fairly actively for a sleeping person.

Sophia had seemed so ... confrontational. Aggressive. Condescending. He felt like he was walking through a minefield every time he interacted with her, and every time he responded to her actions it felt like either deep philosophy or random guessing. Maybe both. It sort of reminded him of the big standardized tests in school, where he kept filling in bubbles and hoping he was getting the right answers, all with no feedback until six months later when he learned how below average he was in exacting detail from a written report.

He seemed to have done a lot better on this test though, and the report had come in much quicker than six months.

"What's on your mind?" Sophia asked. Her eyes were open now, but they seemed less searching than he was used to from her.

"You," he answered truthfully.

She chuckled, shifting to a sitting position on the gravel, "I guess I should've expected that." She paused, stretched like a cat (and _wow_), and then continued, "You weren't so bad yourself."

She looked into the night sky, searchingly. In a voice that was almost wistful, she asked, "Do you think he'll be back? Or maybe something worse, stronger?" She seemed so vulnerable now, so different from the defensive girl he'd known for all this time.

Somehow he knew she was continuing the conversation they'd had before. He felt in tune with her now, as if he'd switched himself to the right setting, "Eventually, there's always something stronger, more dangerous. You just have to be ready to fight for yourself and the people you care about."

She turned to look at him again then, and kissed him, softer than before, straddling him almost gently. She broke the kiss and said, "You can be really fucking smart sometimes, you know."

Things seemed like they might get heated again, but they were interrupted by their PRT phones buzzing. Chris panicked, but Sophia acted quickly, rolling over to where their phones where and tossing Chris' at him as she picked hers up.

Aegis had them on conference call, "We've been getting some nasty reports of murder scenes across the city in the last few minutes. I'm going to meet you at the one on the West side of Downtown Parkway, we should arrive at about the same time."

"Does it look like a gang thing? E88 maybe, around there?" Sophia was slipping into her costume as she stalled a bit on the phone.

"Doesn't seem like it. Supposedly it's pretty ritualized," Aegis replied. "I'm on my way. be careful."

"Sure thing," Chris said.

Aegis hung up, and after hectic seconds, they were fully dressed and ready to go. Shadow Stalker took a leap downward from the tower to get moving quickly, and Kid Win took his hoverboard into a dive to trade altitude for speed.

Kid Win wasn't sure if he should talk on the way. Shadow Stalker had seemed so peaceful just now, but the hunter was back, and she was looking for a fight. He considered asking why, or asking what they were, but it wasn't the time for questions like that. He wondered if they'd been suspicious on the phone, if Aegis would be asking questions, but dismissed it as paranoia; Aegis probably wouldn't believe this had happened if he told him right to his face. Not that he was going to.

Downtown Parkway had been a block-wide stretch of green amidst the tallest buildings of Brockton Bay, and hadn't fared well after Leviathan's attack. What had once been well manicured grass and gentle hills was now torn up mud and standing water. The few small structures scattered over the area were in poor shape too, most of them flooded and ruined. A few old trees still stood, but many had been knocked down by the flooding and lay in the mud. With all of Brockton Bay needing urgent repair, this little park hadn't gotten any attention yet, and was dark in the moonless night.

As they reached the border of the park, Aegis flew in to meet them. "Hi guys. Velocity and Miss Militia are investigating a scene on the boardwalk, and Armsmaster is going to another on the Docks. Everyone else is mobilizing towards Vista at HQ to act as a reserve force she can ferry around, but it won't be available for a while yet. Additionally, we have some PRT troops available, but they're thin on the ground and we should clear the area before calling in forensics."

Kid Win spoke up, "We should probably go in carefully if things are this stretched."

Aegis nodded. "I'm going to stay low and come in obvious, right down the middle, to attract any attention. Kid Win, I want you high up above, ready to make an attack dive if things go bad. Shadow Stalker, ghost around the edges using trees as cover. Look for ambushes lurking and don't get spotted yourself doing it."

Kid Win took off to watch the park from above, gliding forward behind Aegis' advance. The night that had seemed so perfect on the tower seemed ghastly now, the quiet of the gutted city making every shadow sinister. He lost track of Shadow Stalker quickly, but noticed his program flashing off the occasional arrow which let him spot her again.

Aegis stopped, pulling out his phone and buzzing Kid Win's. "That big tree in the center, the bodies are there." Kid Win's angle was wrong and he lacked Aegis' night adapted vision, preventing him from seeing much of anything through the tree's canopy. He cautiously drifted down a bit for a better look.

A man was hanging by a low branch in front of the tree, with two more corpses spaced evenly around it, making a triangle with the trunk in the center. Just below where the rope rested, the lower neck of the nearest dead man was slit open and blood had run down drenching his clothing. The other bodies seemed to be in much worse shape, but it was harder to tell from where they were. One was missing most of its appendages, and the other was cut through vertically, and seemed to be pinned open by metal clamps.

Shadow Stalker landed between them, her mask as impassive as always. "These kills are symbolic. Someone's marking their territory." Kid Win guessed her presence meant no ambushes were apparent in the park; she took her stalking seriously.

Aegis walked to the other side of the tree, shaking his head in disgust as he looked around. Finally, he asked Shadow Stalker, "So we're clear? I didn't see or hear anything myself." At Shadow Stalker's calm nod, he radioed in, "The Parkway scene is clear of hostiles, we have three bodies as reported. Send in the cops."

* * *

**Universe T**

"Listen Weaver, I know we've met under bad circumstances before, but I promise you, this isn't what it looks like." Ephemeral darkness slowly flowed out of Grue's motorcycle helmet, giving his words a deep echo. Shadow Stalker stood menacingly to his side and Tattletale was behind him, having turned away from her inspection of the body nailed to the cross at the back of the church.

Kid Win privately agreed. The Undersiders were in it for the money, and maybe in it for the fun, but they wouldn't set up a macabre scene like this and then stick around waiting for the heroes to show up. Only half of the villain team was even there, and none of them had yet moved to attack.

Weaver however, was determined to take full control of the situation. Her swarm overlaid her voice with a skittering counterpoint to Grue's effect as she replied, "Shadow Stalker doesn't exactly have a perfect record. Even if this wasn't you're doing, you're all wanted for multiple other crimes, and if you refuse to come in quietly we'll be taking you by force." Weaver was still perched behind him on the hoverboard, floating with him at head height over the aisle between the pews.

Grue seemed resigned to a skirmish, but Tattletale spoke up first, "We can't be infighting now. This scene is the work of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Get your silk panties out of a twist and call up your superiors to declare the truce, we don't have any time to waste with your power games."

At this point, Velocity arrived at the church, pushing through the doors and intruding on the standoff. Kid Win risked a glance back to identify him, but Weaver didn't even turn her head. She continued as if he wasn't even there, "That's exactly what you would say to manipulate us into letting you go. And if that's really the case, we can bring it straight to Director Piggot at headquarters now if you come along."

Velocity edged up behind them, dropping out of his speed, but didn't seem very interested in interfering in negotiations. Weaver's intense personality had a way of taking charge of situations, and on top of that her swarm voice was new and still pretty disquieting to most of the other Protectorate members.

Tattletale simply rolled her eyes at Velocity before turning to Kid Win, "Ok, so I get that Quickie over there is thoroughly cowed, but what about you? Does your girlfriend have her hand so far up your ass that you can't even _think_ for yourself anymore? You have seniority on her, and you _know_ this is a pointless fight, I can tell!" Then her eyes snapped back to Weaver, and with a tortured sigh, she whipped out a black canister from behind her back and started spraying herself down with it.

Kid Win was almost about to reply, even though he had no idea what he would say, but Weaver shouted first in a voice more her swarm's than her own, "That's it! You're all under arrest!" The swarm that had been gathering in the back of the church surged forward to meet Grue's expanding darkness and then Kid Win's world turned into blackness and silence.

Kid Win reacted quickly, trying to fly them up above the darkness into the church's rafters, but there didn't seem to be clear air anywhere nearby, and he was hesitant to move very fast blind and deaf like this. After a few moments of confusion, Taylor twisted her hands to the right on his torso and he instinctively boosted that way.

The darkness seemed to melt away from half his body for a second, transitioning from silence and blackness to dim light and swarming insects. Before Kid Win had a chance to process this, Shadow Stalker shot up through the open corridor. She and her accompanying barrage of crossbow bolts mostly missed due to his last second dodge, a few bouncing harmlessly off the bottom of the hoverboard.

After that terrifying event Kid Win was back in the darkness again, but then he felt Weaver shift her grip to his wrists, then closing her hands over his and pointing them down in two different directions. She started squeezing, and he took the cue and started shooting blind. Hopefully she knew what he was aiming at, because he sure didn't.

They flew around like that for a while, with Weaver puppeting him jerkily to either help him dodge Shadow Stalker's attacks or shoot into the darkness. From what he could tell in the few instances when he could see and hear, Weaver's swarm surrounded them both, theoretically providing a layer of cover that Grue couldn't see through. What was happening to Velocity down on the ground he couldn't even begin to guess, but he was happy somebody who at least knew what they were doing was up here with him.

Just when he was wondering how long this could possibly continue, a wide, curved tunnel through the darkness opened up around him. Instead of Shadow Stalker and crossbow bolts, Tattletale's distorted voice echoed through it, just audible over the ceaseless drone of the insects, "You know she's only dating you for your toys right? Weaver can't be the _best_ if all she has to work with are her bugs."

The words had the ring of truth, and Kid Win tried to push down the thoughts that had bothered him all week. The problem with Dennis' suggestion of essentially bribing Taylor to date him had always been, essentially, that he was bribing Taylor to date him. Of course a winner like her would never normally be interested in a loser like him (and wasn't his name ironic, in that context), but if just a few hours a week could buy her an advantage on the battlefield? He knew she already put nearly as much time into being a hero as Armsmaster did, surely a little bit more would seem justifiable.

Weaver seemed to flinch, and grabbing him even more tightly she directed him out of the dim light of the tunnel and back into the dark. As he obeyed and snapped off another few shots at her direction, he was keenly aware of her body behind him, feeling her heart pounding in his back and her clenching tighter to him. Was she trying to get him away from the Thinker's dangerous social attack, or simply afraid of being found out? Even if she was using him, did he really mind? What was the truth compared to stolen kisses in the back of a movie theater or steamy makeouts in an alley after dinner? Kid Win felt a lump settle into his stomach, not sure if it was because he cared or because he accepted that he didn't.

Suddenly, they emerged into another open patch, this one just by the looming church doors. Grue was down, burns from Kid Win's stunners smoking off his thick leather costume. Shadow Stalker was entangled and whimpering in Taylor's new net, the metal fibers glowing blue and crackling with energy. Tattletale and Velocity were still nowhere to be seen, but surely the matter was settled. He supposed that another one of the perks of dating a winner was that sometimes you actually got to win.

And then, just he was relaxing from the adrenaline high of the fight, Weaver said, "Reinforcements, coming in fast. Hellhound and Regent are riding those monsters of theirs. Quick, if we can get outside fast enough maybe we can snipe them from above."

They pushed through the doors and Kid Win angled the hoverboard to gain altitude, but even before he got started his left foot slipped back and got tangled with Weaver's legs. they didn't quite manage to fall off, but they collapsed to their knees together and the hoverboard skidded into the grass. Regent was already in range.

They tried to get up and get back in the sky, but soon after Weaver slapped him hard in the face with her lightly armored hand and they both lost their footing again, rolling in opposite directions away from the hoverboard. Kid Win rubbed the mud off of his visor and looked up to see one of the giant monster dogs barreling directly down on them.

He tried to scramble away and half succeeded, avoiding being tackled by the giant but getting his leg stamped underfoot. It had Weaver pinned and looked about to bite down on her, but Kid Win still had a gun in hand and let loose with everything he had, flipping it into the overdrive setting for maximum effect.

His wild shots ripped up the monster's face a bit, and with a roar of anger it turned to him instead to extract vengeance. Maybe Weaver would think of him as something more than her pet Tinker when she visited his grave. He rolled behind the church's cheery sign as he continued to fire, hoping against hope that the scant cover provided would do any good at all.

The armored beast knocked it down onto Kid Win like plywood, knocking him viciously down into the ground under it. Kid Win felt a couple of his ribs snap in his chest and noticed his left arm wasn't moving right either. He reflected that at least he'd gone out well. It really had been a good night, all told.

The sign was pushed away, and the monster dog loomed over him as it had over Weaver. Up close, he could see insects running over its eyes and nose, biting and stinging mercilessly, but it seemed uncaring of its plight, ignoring the bugs completely. It was nice that she tried.

Just as the jaws seemed about to close on him, Kid Win heard a sharp whistle. The monster dog turned away immediately and ran off, following the now complete party of Undersiders exiting the church and riding into the night. Kid Win managed to roll onto his stomach and started trying to crawl towards Weaver, but then the black at the edges of his vision closed in around him and he fell into darkness, unconscious.

* * *

**Universe S**

"We have no way of knowing if the Nine are truly in the city or if this is the work of some imitators. With the city in its current fragile condition we can't afford a panic either way, so we have no choice but to keep this quiet and in house until we know more," Director Piggot stated, presiding over the briefing from her expansive seat at the head of the room. While Kid Win realized it would be almost comical folly for her to lead from the front, he couldn't help but be annoyed with her skeptical attitude considering she'd at least gotten a full night of sleep.

He could sense Shadow Stalker steaming in the seat next to him, but Assault made his own complaint, "Look Director, if the Slaughterhouse Nine are here we have much more important things to worry about than panic. We need to get ahead of this and start working with the other local capes now, before the Nine can turn us against each other any more than we already are."

Director Piggot sneered back at him. "The 'local capes' you say? Are you talking about New Wave, or do you mean we should be working with the villains at a time like this? The Merchants have been more vile than ever before in the past weeks, and Armsmaster himself confronted the Undersiders tampering with one of the crime scenes last night!"

Armsmaster grunted, and then interrupted Piggot's rant, "According to my lie detection equipment, Tattletale _did_ believe she was telling the truth when she identified the culprits as the Nine. However, with no idea how her Thinker power works, it's possible that she was mistaken, or even that she was able to trick my software."

Piggot rolled her eyes before continuing, "So once again, we know nothing at all. Well, I know that in previous cases the Nine have made their arrivals far more spectacular, and I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be just as loud as usual entering a city as devastated as Brockton Bay is right now." She paused, scanning the room for more dissent. "If we can get more concrete evidence, we'll draw up a truce, but until then, the villains stay the enemy."

Nobody else seemed to have much to say to that, and the meeting broke up with the heroes going their separate ways. Shadow Stalker headed up to the building's roof; he could tell she was as annoyed with the proceedings as he was. He was about to follow, but was intercepted by Aegis on the way out.

The leader of the wards put a hand on Kid Win's shoulder, leading him into a less traveled corner of the PRT HQ. "We need to talk about something."

Kid Win raised his eyebrow a bit, under his mask. "Do we?" He was starting to understand Sophia's frustration with the rest of the team, with the PRT, with people in general. They had meeting after meeting and accomplished all of nothing in any of them. Now, Aegis seemed to have another meeting in mind, and Kid Win had a good idea what it might be about. From their frantic reply over the radio last night, Aegis had reason to suspect a whole lot.

Aegis continued calmly, "You and Shadow Stalker have been getting close lately. You've been a Ward as long as I have and I trust your judgement, but this kind of thing can have a negative effect if it ends poorly."

Kid Win stopped, and leaned against the wall to confront Aegis directly, "So if we are close, you think it's ending poorly? Not every Tinker is as socially inept as Armsmaster."

Aegis stopped, seeming a bit confused. "I didn't mean it that way. It's just Shadow Stalker can be … Shadow Stalker. You know we're friends Kid Win, I just wanted to look out for you."

Kid Win relaxed a bit, chiding himself for getting so defensive. "She isn't that bad. I think she just has trouble trusting people, really. She has a good heart." He started walking with Aegis again, and continued, "Don't worry about us; we should all be focusing on the Slaughterhouse Nine and the other villains plaguing the city, not internal squabbles."

Aegis frowned. "So you think they're really here? That scene was pretty gruesome, but this city has plenty of monsters in it even without the Nine. I think Piggot has a point; without Shatterbird singing or something else obvious, there isn't much reason to believe that they're here."

Kid Win shook his head. "Always better to believe something is waiting in ambush and be too paranoid than to think the world is all smiles and get turned into fish food. Piggy doesn't know what the reality is like out there, she's too insulated for a situation like this."

"Yeah, well, nothing a couple of Wards can do about that. I guess we'll all have to stay alert in the coming days. I'll see you around, and good luck with Shadow Stalker." Aegis turned and walked away, leaving Kid Win alone. Figuring she would still be up on the roof, he made his way up there to join her.

He found her looking off the edge, out into the sunrise. Without turning to look at him, she said, "I don't know what's worse. Desk jockeys like that fat pig burying their heads in the sand, or everyone else wanting to join up hands and sing Kumbaya."

Kid Win walked up and stood close behind her, looking over her head out toward the bay himself. His girlfriend (she wasn't the type to talk about things like that directly, but he was pretty sure that was where they stood) had a ferocious presence, but in reality she was physically small. He wondered if any of the scum she punished on the streets ever underestimated her because of that.

After letting the silence linger for a bit, Kid Win spoke, "It's like I said. Nothing we can do but be ready to fight. Maybe if the Nine come here hunting, they'll find themselves being hunted instead."

Her posture relaxed a bit at that, and she nodded her head. She turned to him and said, "I'm edgy. Want to do some ranged sparring in the gym?"

The last time they'd tried that with her rubber arrows and his guns' training setting he'd gotten hammered, but he felt more confident now. And if nothing else, she would probably enjoy the exercise.

"Sure," he replied, smiling behind his mask. "Let's get it on."


	4. Decryption

**Decryption**

**Universe T**

Kid Win awoke with a deep breath, followed by a sputtering cough, trying to make sense of the situation. He registered sterile white walls, beeping medical equipment, and a white cloaked figure holding his hand. Focusing his bleary eyes, he made out Panacea's weary face, looking something between exasperated and relieved.

"Broken leg, broken arm, three broken ribs. A punctured lung too, along with lots of internal bleeding. Lots of other assorted minor damage I won't bother telling you about," she recited in a tired monotone. "And from how I hear it, you weren't even on an official patrol."

Kid Win felt the odd sensations of his insides shifting around slow to a stop and immediately got out the first thing on his mind, "Weaver? Where is she, is she alright?"

Panacea let go of his hand. "No 'Thank You' this time?" Before he could answer, she sighed and continued, "Sorry, it's alright. She's not in nearly as bad a way as you were so they had me heal you first. I should be done with her by the time the nurses have you out of those splints and back into your costume." Without even waiting for Kid Win's belated thanks, she turned and headed back out the door.

Checking the clock and noticing the lack of light coming in through the nearby window Kid Win surmised it was still the same night, but before he could do much else the nurses were pecking over him and disconnecting all the medical equipment.

A few minutes later, he was back into his bloodstained and dented but still essentially intact costume and about to burst out the door, but before he could get there Weaver was already opening it from the outside.

She paused there, uncertain. Her costume looked better than his, but its dark colors hid the stains a bit, and the spider silk fabric was better even than the low grade tinker cloth that made up regulation costumes. It felt odd to see her hesitate like this; she was normally so decisive.

Kid Win broke the ice, "Hey. I guess that didn't go very well, did it?"

She shook her head and walked to him, her exposed hair moving back and forth with the motion. "I'm sorry I screwed everything up. I -", she cut herself off with a pause. "We should've never left the church, broken cover. I just didn't want to fall back from the door and lose the ones we'd already caught. I put us in so much danger and it was so stupid, I-"

Kid Win cut her off this time, "No, you did great. You won the fight in the church, and we couldn't have known their reinforcements would get there before Aegis and Gallant could. It was an impossible situation." He moved closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder, but she froze at the contact, looking down at the ground.

Tattletale's words raced through his mind again. "Weaver…" He wasn't sure what to say, how to even broach the nasty subject.

"I understand. I was thinking about it while we were waiting for Panacea to wake up and get here. You probably don't want anything to do with me personally anymore, but I hope we can still be professional while working. I-, Kid Win, I really did enjoy tonight, but I know you must think that-"

"Stop." Kid Win took her masked chin gently under the mandibles and shifted her head to look at his. "Don't worry about it. We both know Tattletale is a massive bitch. The night was totally fun up until then, and you were great, and it's fine, about … why we're dating. I sort of suspected it from the start, to be honest, I know someone like you could do better and I really like you a lot, it's ok if you don't like me very much, so-"

"No!" Weaver almost shouted. "I do! It might have started like that, I saw a shiny piece of new gear and I couldn't help thinking, being greedy. But everything was so great. The date was wonderful. You were wonderful! You don't need to make me anything, I just don't want you to leave," she'd started loud, but by the end her voice was trailing off into a whisper. She sounded so afraid.

"I won't leave." Kid Win grabbed her into a hug, his forehead nestling into the crook of her neck.

They held the hug for a while, but soon Weaver broke off and turned to the door. Kid Win took the cue, stepping to the side in time to see Velocity enter the room.

"Well, that little adventure went all kinds of wonderful," Velocity said sarcastically. He was carrying a plastic bin and didn't appear to be injured.

Weaver's shoulders drooped in embarrassment again, but before she could say anything Velocity continued, "Oh don't get all depressed. It isn't like none of us have lost to the Undersiders before. The Director will ream you out a bit tomorrow, or later today I guess, and all will be right with the world. Look, I even got all your stuff back from the scene."

He dropped the bin on the hospital bed, and Kid Win noticed his hoverboard, his guns, and even Weaver's net were all inside. The gear was a bit worse for the wear but essentially unbroken, and Kid Win figured he could have it all in peak condition again before the weekend was over.

Kid Win was about to thank the elder hero, but Velocity interrupted again, "Sorry I couldn't be much help back there. Now I gotta run, it's already gotten late." With a blur, Velocity was gone before either of them had managed to get a word in edgewise.

After staring at the door for a second, Weaver looked at the clock and sighed. "It _is _late, my dad is going to freak if he stayed up." She looked back at Kid Win speculatively, "Give me a ride home? You can drop me off near my place and I'll sneak the rest of the way."

That sounded just fine to Kid Win. "Sure. Ah, do you think your dad will be mad at me for keeping you out too late?"

"I don't think he'll blame you," Weaver replied. "But don't mention what happened at the church next time you see him. I don't like worrying him with small stuff like that."

Kid Win wasn't sure that being beaten nearly to death by a giant dog in the middle of an arrest was small stuff, but he hadn't even told his mother he was going on a date, so he supposed he couldn't talk.

* * *

**Universe S**

Kid Win wasn't sure, but he suspected Shadow Stalker was hiding somewhere under the bleachers. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure why there _were_ bleachers in the gym; they were definitely standard fare for a lot of gyms he'd been in, but the PRT didn't exactly have a sports team. Maybe it was part of some training scheme from heroes long past.

There had been some people using the gym with them when their spar had first started, but somewhere along the way it had become the main attraction of the facility and people had slowly left the gym's environs for the observation deck to stay out of the way. Blunt arrows and training bolts still hurt, after all.

Aside from the bleachers Kid Win was staring at, the gym had a lot more cover than was usual. There was a bit of a climbing island, some clusters of stood up mats, and even concealed eaves up in the rafters, presumably to give some variety to contests like this. Kid Win and Shadow Stalker had spent a while sparring up near the ceiling, but the electrical wiring in the roof lights had been making her skittish and she'd opted to take the fight back to the low ground a few minutes ago.

They had sort of chased each other around the climbing island for a bit, but she'd managed to get away from him there and his prediction program was giving tepid signals as to her current location. Blunt arrows rolled around the abandoned battlefield like tumbleweeds, propelled by the strong fans that circulated air through the underground room.

He was scooting his hoverboard toward the bleachers warily, wondering how he was going to engage her in such cramped quarters, when he got a sudden sense of foreboding. Even as he started to spin, his visor screamed warnings, and he managed to get one gun up in time to snap off a shot just before a blunt arrow whacked him square in the face.

Shadow Stalker dephased to change her trajectory and dodged easily, sticking a landing on the ground that a gymnast would envy. "Gotcha!"

"You did", Kid Win replied flatly. He had _really_ thought he could beat her today.

"Hey, three out of seven falls isn't bad is it? Maybe next time," Shadow Stalker gloated.

"Maybe next time," Kid Win agreed. "I'm beat, do you want to hit the showers?"

Shadow Stalker replied in a lower voice, "Slow down there tiger. Unless you want to flaunt to all of the PRT?" Kid Win wasn't sure if she was joking.

After he'd paused warily for a bit, she just laughed, and slapped him on the shoulder. "Did you think I was serious? Maybe we _will_ sometime, it'd drive the Pig up the wall, and she couldn't throw me in juvie for that! But really, do you want to change and then get something to eat?"

Kid Win was on firmer ground here. "Sure, that'd be great." He hadn't interacted with Sophia much out of costume yet, and wasn't sure what to expect, but he figured it'd be fun to find out.

* * *

Even out of costume, moving through the streets with Sophia was an experience. She strutted with a confidence that could've been out of place for a girl of her small stature, but somehow she managed it in spite of that. While Brockton Bay was on its way to recovery, the streets had never been very safe, and the bus route they took north to the Boardwalk still left a lot of ground to cover on foot.

"So this pizza place of yours must be pretty good to be worth going this far," Chris said. Privately, he suspected something bigger was up, but wanted to let her manage whatever it was at her own speed.

"It is, actually. Just reopened." There was a pause in conversation as they crossed a street and she indicated a new direction. "It's not really on the Boardwalk; all the stuff here is overpriced and pretty lame. And mostly still destroyed, I guess. It's more of a Docks place."

Soon enough, they came to Anthony's Pizza Shop, and while the storefront showed signs of water damage, it wasn't as bad as it had been on the Boardwalk and the inside seemed clean and repaired. Upon entering, Sophia looked up at the chalk menu and shrugged at Chris, signaling him to pick whatever.

Chris generally went for a variety of toppings, but was in the mood for meat today. He ordered a Pepperoni and Sausage for them both and sat down with a couple drinks to wait. Sophia joined him in the booth, scooting in to his side of the table.

"So, you're buying?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just a pizza. What else am I going to spend my stipend on with the city like this?" Chris answered.

"Way to make a girl feel appreciated." She was being sarcastic, but said it with a smile, and leaned into his side.

In a few minutes, they collected the pizza and mostly ate in companionable silence. While on her last slice, Sophia spoke up after glancing around, "So. There's this other thing I'd like to show you in the Boat Graveyard."

"That's cool. I don't really have to be home at any specific time." Chris' mother had been a little distant since he joined the Wards, and with the post Leviathan chaos she'd stopped tracking his movements much, assuming his workload might ramp up. It hurt him to think of how close they'd used to be sometimes, when he was younger, but it was useful now.

They left the restaurant and made their way further north toward the Boat Graveyard. Chris would feel a little leery about the neighborhood, but he knew that if it came down to it Sophia was an unbelievable unarmed fighter, and he was even carrying a gun in his backpack as a last resort.

He needn't have feared though; the area was abandoned, and even the gangsters seemed to be focusing on more profitable territories in the wake of Leviathan's attack. Sophia led him to an abandoned warehouse not too far from the waterfront and started looking at their surroundings carefully once they reached the door. After she was satisfied, she went into her shadow form and phased through to the other side. There was the rusty sound of creaking metal, and then the door popped open and she beckoned him inside.

Chris entered quickly and she shut the door behind him, forcefully turning the physical metal latch back into place. "This was my secret hideout, before the Protectorate conscripted me. It isn't much, but I have some reserve stuff here and a place to crash."

The ground floor of the warehouse hadn't done well in the flooding and was a moldy mess of destroyed wood and broken metal, but Sophia led him to some stairs that went to an upper level. "Most of this place I just used to practice, but the nice spot is up here." The little observation room was still in pretty good shape, complete with some out of place couches that Sophia must have dragged in long ago.

"This is kind of nice. I was pretty much in the Wards before I ever had anything like this. Did you ever bring anybody else here?" Chris thought two couches was a little much for one person, but he couldn't really imagine Sophia being very friendly with normal people either.

Sophia flinched a little. "Yeah. One person." She looked down, and continued, "She was my best friend, but she died in the Leviathan attack. She wasn't a cape, but she … understood." Chris had never seen Sophia cry in all the months he'd known her, but her face was wet.

Saying he was sorry just felt wrong. He just hugged her, and she broke into little sobs for a while, crying into his chest. After a minute or so, she put herself back together, apologizing, "Sorry. I didn't think I'd just fall apart there. It just, it didn't feel real until now, you know? I kept thinking that the text to my phone was from her, or that we could hang out after patrol, dumb things like that. We had some good times here, and bringing you just sort of made me realize that she's really gone."

She sat down on the couch, cleaning her face with her sleeve, and Chris sat down next to her. The whole Wards team had known Eric on New Wave, but he was more of an acquaintance than a friend really. Dauntless had been closer to home, technically, but he'd barely interacted with the Wards at all. More words didn't really seem right for right now anyway.

He gently kissed the top of her head, through her hair, and she responded needily, eagerly, pulling him down on top of her. She was different this time, gentle, quiet. It was really a surprisingly comfortable couch for something found on the street and dragged into an abandoned warehouse.

Neither of them was tired afterwards, this time, and they just lay together for a bit, Sophia pivoting under him and snuggling between him and the side of the couch. Briefly, he wondered if he was taking advantage of her, but he decided that even in this condition Sophia was well equipped to take care of herself if she needed to.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I'm afraid my colleague has a busy schedule to keep. These double dates have a way of being a little awkward, don't they?" There was a man in the door. His open dress shirt and jeans seemed almost incongruous with the face of the world's most wanted villain. A woman's visage in black and white stripes could be seen inquisitively looking over his shoulder. Jack Slash, the Siberian, the Slaughterhouse Nine were really here.

Chris rolled from the couch to the ground, scrambling for the gun in his bag. As useless as he knew it would be, he would rather die fighting than be killed like a helpless animal. He grabbed blindly, too slow, and when he finally had it he turned to see Jack Slash and the Siberian, still standing calmly in the doorway. He could spot Sophia behind him out of the corner of his eye, and equally useless crossbow in her hand that she'd secreted out of somewhere.

A smile came to Jack's face. "Five out of ten for execution, but a solid eight for humor." He strode calmly into the room and took a seat on the arm of the abandoned couch. "But really, we're not here to fight right now. In fact, we have an exciting offer for you two lovebirds, available for a limited time only."

* * *

**Universe T**

The next day, as expected, Chris was fixing up his (and Taylor's) equipment. Most of it hadn't taken too much damage in the fight, but he needed to switch out some damaged panels on his body armor and the net had a couple frayed links that needed to be replaced.

Piggot hadn't actually been too hard on Weaver for her daring antics during the meeting. The primary focus had been on the multiple murders last night, and Weaver had gotten away with a PR event at Adams Elementary's opening next week as her only 'punishment'. Kid Win supposed the Director had as big a grudge against the Undersiders as Weaver did at this point, and she seemed more frustrated that half of them had narrowly escaped again than anything else.

Weaver had followed him back upstairs and was studying files on a computer in his lab; both were out of costume in the safety of the Wards' sanctum. "If the Nine really are here and Shatterbird sings, what are you going to do?" she asked. "She doesn't just break glass, the song supposedly bricks most electronics too."

"So you think the Nine are really here? You didn't seem very convinced by Tattletale last night," Chris said. "It's actually not much of a problem for me. Everything in my actual tech uses optical circuits, and my visor's a plastic compound instead of glass. My computer interface equipment would all be ruined, but the computers would be too so that doesn't matter very much, I guess."

"That's good. And I don't necessarily believe the Nine are here, but 'it's wise to be prepared for every eventuality'," Taylor managed to finish her comment deadpan, but afterwards they both broke into giggles at her quoting Armsmaster's maxim.

Chris got up from his workbench to look over her shoulder. As he expected, the internal Protectorate file for Shatterbird was displayed on the screen, and profiles on some of the rest of the Nine were visible hidden on other tabs. He spoke uneasily, "But really, doesn't this sort of have you spooked? I mean, Leviathan was here, but we had all sorts of other heroes here to drive him off. If the Nine are really here … it's all up to us."

Taylor kept scanning the document without turning her head, but she'd never been big on eye contact. She leaned back into her chair, closer to him, but it was anything but relaxed. She said, "Am I completely horrible for almost wishing that it's true? I feel so tied up by all the rules and regs and PR we have to follow sometimes."

"Like the bugs they don't let you take out? At least you're making a mint with that honeybee thing right?" Chris tried to lighten the mood a bit, and started stroking her hair to calm her down.

Her reply was still troubled, "It's not just the bugs I can't use, it's the ways I can't use the ones I have. If I could go for the eyes and other vulnerable spots, Tattletale's bug spray wouldn't have been a huge deal even with the swarm I had out on patrol. I thought I had the situation handled anyway, but things can _escalate, _and so easily. If I'd only been able to do it all quicker in the church we might've had more time to set up for Bitch and Regent."

"Armsmaster got your special spiders in too recently right?" Chris had still been sort of creeped out by Weaver's bugs when the spider news came in and hadn't paid much attention to the specifics. Strangely, they didn't seem to bother him anymore now, even as he felt them move around his fingers as he stroked her hair. Bugs were sort of like his girlfriend's own fingers, he supposed.

"The darwin's bark spiders are more for the stronger silk, I wouldn't take them out anyway. But I have my widows, and Armsmaster got an emergency supply of bullet ants and giant hornets shipped in for me too. We tried to get the bullet ants past review, but it's been tied up in the bureaucracy for a month now," Taylor answered, still frustrated.

Chris got back to the original topic, "You're just stressed out. You hate losing and you detest PR and it totally doesn't make you horrible. You're great."

Taylor didn't say anything, but let go of the mouse and impulsively spun her chair around to face him, pulling him down into a kiss. "You're great," she said. "I'm maybe ok, at best." A rare smile crossed her face. "Nobody's around, you know," she whispered.

Chris was pleasantly surprised, but also a little shocked. "But, I mean, cameras!" He lowered his voice after that, "They keep all the Ward Tinker labs under surveillance in case of accidents."

"Yes, there are two and another outside that gets a bit of the doorway. This corner is in a blind spot," Taylor explained mischievously. "Just don't make too much noise." She kissed him again, settling him onto her lap.

The kiss broke, and Chris said dazedly, "Oh, well, that's good then."


	5. Application

**Application**

**Universe S**

Jack Slash paused theatrically, as if expecting an excited response. When none was forthcoming, he frowned, and rolled his eyes. "Kids these days. Such a tough audience. Don't you want to hear about my offer? I assure you, the alternative is worse."

Chris felt naked out of costume in this situation, and not only because he literally was naked. It was worse really; he felt as if his skin was missing. He guessed all his gear wouldn't actually help much with the Siberian here, staring at them from the doorway, but facing down villains as Christopher Chambers instead of Kid Win just felt bizarre. Sophia was still hesitating behind him though, So he felt he better take the lead here.

"I got the impression that you and yours didn't offer much to heroes besides death," he replied. His voice was less shaky than he'd thought it would be.

"Perhaps it's death I offer, but that's a coin with two sides. Wouldn't killing me, or even any of my Nine, let you put a real mark on the world?" Jack smirked. "When I come to town, the stakes are _real_. That isn't what this conversation is about though."

"The Slaughterhouse Nine recently became only eight." Jack's eyes drifted to Sophia, over her own naked body. "And the Siberian thinks you might make the cut, little shadow. I guess you have similar fashion sense, at least." Seemingly bored, Jack drew a blade into his hand and flicked it idly, scratching the observation window.

Sophia seemed to be regaining her composure, despite her recent emotional rollercoaster and her pressing lack of any clothes. "I've never been a villain!" She said defiantly.

At this, the Siberian entered, walking up to her until the top of Sophia's crossbow rested on her breastbone, daring her to shoot. Sophia locked eyes with her and phased into shadow, not firing but thrusting the entire crossbow forward, through the Siberian and into her chest before dephasing and diving to the side.

Chris acted at the same time, shooting at Jack while rolling into cover by the couch. His effort was for naught though; Jack was already dodging even before he'd reacted, and Chris was certain the flick of Jack's knife would cut his throat. It didn't.

The sharp crack warned Chris just in time, and he was just able to grab a cushion off the couch to deflect the pane of glass Jack had cut away. His defense was far from perfect though, and a last cut by Jack as it fell separated a couple small shards to tear into his leg.

Meanwhile, the Siberian stood passive and unharmed, smiling. The crossbow Sophia had phased into her was destroyed by her invincibility when it came back to solidity, and the pieces of it that hadn't intersected her body simply fell to the ground. As they landed, Jack broke out laughing.

Sophia's frantic motion was halted by the utter failure of their attack and the lack of response, and she ended up with her back to the wall, her eyes sweeping the room frantically. Chris could tell she wanted to run, but knew she wouldn't leave him here injured. Considering the situation, he wished she would.

Before Chris could grit through the pain and fear and tell his girlfriend to run the hell away, Jack managed to stop laughing and spoke, "And _that's_ why the Siberian picked you! You have the killer instinct. You're an animal inside, looking to mark your territory and fight for your dinner. You can't let anybody decide that you're _weak_."

He looked down at Chris, "And you too! I chose you, you see. At first, I merely thought I was indulging the Siberian, letting her chosen predator run with a packmate. But now, I see you're really built of the same stuff! It's part of your instincts to send violent signals to the world. It's how you live, the way you want to survive."

"So we aren't as pathetic as the rest of the heroes, and that's why we have to play your game?" Sophia spat.

Jack shrugged. "Pretty much. I doubt you've ever liked the leash the Protectorate puts around your neck, unlike the rest of those tame dogs. You want to be free again, don't you?"

Sophia was quiet after that, her face wracked by conflict. Seeming to decide the fight was over for now, she pulled open a drawer in the desk, retrieving a first aid kit, and warily crossed the room to work on Chris' bloodied leg.

Chris knew she hadn't enjoyed the restrictions heaped on her when she was dragooned into the Wards, and in retrospect he could understand why she'd been so angry. She'd been one of the good guys hadn't she? Who really cared if some villains were hurt at the end of the day? Bureaucrats like the Pig tying their hands were probably half the reason things in Brockton Bay were as bad as they were.

Chris couldn't help but be thankful Shadow Stalker had been brought into the Wards though, since it had been her that had pulled the wool off from over his eyes, her that had become his kindred spirit over these last couple wild days. As she phased bits of glass out of his leg one by one, he knew that not even all the deranged maniacs in the world could have a chance of pulling them apart.

Chris carefully turned up at Jack from the ground. "Do you really think we'll betray each other over this twisted contest?"

Jack replied speculatively, "Probably not, but you don't have to. Failure in this competition does mean death, but you can open up more slots, and even earn some extra credit while so doing, by the simple expedient of killing off some of your examiners. It's natural selection at its finest."

At this Jack waved the Siberian out of the room, apparently deciding their conversation was over. "That's about it for introductions. Don't make such a half-assed attack again, don't expect your so-called superiors to actually be useful, and don't forget to mind the bell." With that, he left.

Sophia finished extracting the glass, and wiped down Chris' cuts with disinfectant, making him cringe a bit. As she mechanically got out the bandages, she asked him, "So what the fuck do we do?"

He shook his head, and smiled despite himself. "I guess we fight."

* * *

**Universe T**

Taylor wasn't browsing on the computer anymore. She had a thick stack of paper files instead. She wasn't out of costume either; Weaver's grayscale armor had replaced the casual clothing. She and Chris weren't alone in Wards HQ; all of his teammates were there too, overflowing with tension. Instead of sharing a seat with Chris, Weaver was alone, sitting on the floor with her back to wall. The quiet drone of insects echoed in his ears, and their idyllic afternoon was six hours and an eternity away.

Taylor had been almost giggly when she left to have dinner with her father earlier, but her meeting with Jack Slash had left her distant and empty, her consciousness spread over the several surrounding blocks. Mannequin had raided the building to confront Armsmaster when she was gone, and she had returned to the it in the middle of an uproar. Despite her own encounter, she had joined the security effort immediately, and even now was sweeping the building with her swarms, trying to detect some trace of the terrifying cyborg Tinker.

The television, the computers, and even the windows had all been packed away with Shatterbird as a pressing threat, helping set a grim tone for all the Wards. Missy and Dean were speaking quietly in one corner of the room, and Aegis and Clockblocker were both in costume and marking up a map with possible routes. The Wards were on high alert, and the plan was to deploy them in concentrated force as a reserve team if necessary, with Vista multiplying the mobility of the entire team.

Chris wanted to go to Taylor, to comfort her, but he could guess that she wouldn't like the spectacle the PDA would cause, so he stayed at his workbench. The routine maintenance he'd been occupied with earlier was done, so now he trying desperately to come up with something new, anything that was good enough to help against the Nine.

He'd never really gotten his alternator cannon to the point where he was confident with it, and was looking at it now, but found himself uninspired. The rapid frequency fluctuations the gun used could theoretically be devastating, but they were also very stressful on the cannon itself, and lens burnout was a constant spectre. He could compromise by slowing down the frequency changes, but that would drastically reduce the effectiveness of the concept to begin with. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

He sighed in frustration and put his head in his hands. It was the story of his life all over again; when the chips were down, he just wasn't good enough. Not good enough to cheer up his mother with decent grades in school. Not good enough to be a real Tinker with a real specialization. Definitely not good enough to help save his wonderful girlfriend from the horde of lunatic supervillains out for her blood. If it hadn't been for Dragon and his fellow Wards helping, she probably wouldn't even be his girlfriend to begin with.

When he'd chosen his cape name, years ago, he'd thought that joining the Wards was a new beginning for him. Christopher Chambers was a loser; he couldn't do anything right. Kid Win would be a _winner_, able to engineer a solution to any challenge and fight any villain. He thought he could be like Armsmaster (when he'd first joined, he would stare at the mirror every morning, hoping a beard would start to grow in.) In the end though, it turned out that Kid Win was just another chapter in the sad book of Chris.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey," Weaver said, uncertainly. "You ok?"

"I should probably be asking you that," Chris replied.

Weaver sat down next to him on the bench. "Be careful what you wish for I guess, huh?" Her in costume and him out of it only emphasized their height difference, her edgy mask making her seem even taller.

Chris turned to her, worriedly, "Taylor, I know you didn't really mean what you said before, you were just frustrated. I know what it feels like for the Protectorate to tie your hands."

"I got what I wanted though, didn't I?" Her voice broke a bit, and she looked down for a moment. "Piggot declared a state of emergency and cleared everything. Bullet ants, giant hornets, eyes, suffocation, the whole works. I can't help but think this is exactly what _he _wanted. I'm going to be fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine with tools that make me look like one of their members already."

Chris couldn't really bring himself to care that they weren't alone anymore. He reached over to her and undid the latches tying her mask to the rest of her silk costume. He slowly took it off, rested it on the bench, and hugged her. The chitin paneling in the armor she wore emphasized her hard, lean figure, but the skin on her neck was warm and her hair was soft.

He spoke quietly into her ear, "It isn't about the powers you have Taylor. It's about what you do with them. And you've always been a hero."

Her body seemed to relax a bit in the hug, losing some of its stiffness. She chuckled a bit, grimly, "And I thought I was going to be comforting you."

"You did," he answered.

Taylor broke the hug and picked up her piles of papers from their tiny living carriers on the ground, putting them on an empty section of the bench. "I think I can work just as well from here," she said, "Unless you don't have the space?" A little bit of fun had come back into her voice.

"I think I should be able to make room," Chris replied, smiling.

He settled back into working, and decided to take a new tack. He wasn't going to easily match any of the Nine (or the eight, he supposed) for raw power, but maybe he could find a specific weakness to exploit. He was a Tinker after all; he should adapt his equipment to the situation at hand. He glanced over at Taylor's space and borrowed the summary sheet to help him keep it straight; she gave him an absent nod.

Siberian was by all accounts, completely invincible; he didn't think he would solve the problem so many others, including Hero himself, had failed at. Crawler adapted to new attacks, so it was unlikely Kid Win would do anything but make him stronger with a novel damage type. Shatterbird seemed like a possibility. Maybe if he could make a setting that transmuted glass back into sand somehow? It seemed like a pretty difficult problem, so he tabled it for now, noting it down as a backup plan.

Burnscar did fire, and that was about all she did. Naturally, the response was to try to use water somehow, but Chris didn't have anything like that either. His handguns had that dehydrator setting, but-

That did the reverse of what he wanted. Thinking quickly, Chris pulled one of his guns over, popping its panel and staring at the selector rotary. He carefully took the dehydrator core out of there and contemplated its function. If he could just rework a couple connectors and flip the thing around, it would soak the target area with water instead, and could be a great weapon against Burnscar's fire. It was too bad that he would have to sacrifice the dehydration setting to make it work, but that would probably be much less useful in the next few days.

Chris still hesitated. He didn't like going backwards with his tech, losing features even if there was a speculative gain ahead. He'd actually almost disassembled his hoverboard a couple times in the weeks before Leviathan's attack, and he was happy now that he'd had the better judgment to keep it intact. Was he making a similar mistake now? He wished he could just switch the little core in and out, rotating it as needed for a given situation.

"Why couldn't you?" Taylor asked.

Chris started, unaware he'd been talking out loud. "The selector's too fragile, I could never open it up like this in the field." The cores were actually kind of durable, so it was a shame, but the connective rotary mechanism itself hadn't been the easiest to put together. Chris paused. This seemed like it could be a thing.

"Thanks Taylor," Chris said. He had a lot of work to do, but none of it would be too difficult. In fact, he could see that this might make some more room in the chassis for energy generation, now that he considered it.

Hours later, he was pretty sure he was done. Normally, a retrofit this big would have to go through testing all over again, but with the Slaughterhouse Nine emergency getting it rubber stamped wouldn't be the work of five minutes.

He'd removed the selector from his handguns entirely, and replaced it with a smaller open compartment he could slot individual cores in and out of quickly. It saved a massive amount of space, and he was able to increase the raw punch of the guns by more than double. Normally switching cores would be way too much manipulation with both his hands full of gun, but he'd gotten Taylor to make little "core belts" out of silk to chain the cores together in, meaning he could just yank them back and forth through the mechanism. The core he wanted would slot into position and the others would hang down off the gun, out of the way. To allow for inversions like the hydration/dehydration core, the compartment the belt was slotted into could be rotated 180 degrees with the belt still inside, allowing for more easy switching.

Chris took a moment to pick them up, pulling the belts back and forth and moving the guns around. The whole assemblage felt incredibly smooth, somehow righter than it had before. He noticed the common room outside his lab was dark; the other Wards had gone to sleep.

"You done for now? It's gotten pretty late." Except one. Taylor was still dressed in her bodysuit with her head free, calm and impassive on her corner of the bench. She'd spun around to face him and her papers were packed back into a large stack. He imagined her bugs were still working, sweeping, sewing, listening; they always were.

"Yeah. I guess we should sleep while we can." Chris didn't know why the Nine were delaying their open activities for so long, but he was thankful for the respite.

Taylor stood and looked at him, taking her mask from the table and putting it on her belt. Chris was struck again by how beautiful she was. Remarkably tall, supermodel thin, long curly hair spilling down her back.

"Sleep," Taylor said, as if tasting the word. He could see she looked tired now, and there was a haunted edge in her voice. He suspected that her private encounter with Jack Slash had shaken her more than she was willing to admit, even to herself.

"I don't think I want to sleep alone tonight," she finished, decided. She walked over to Chris, put her hands on his shoulders, and kissed him softly on the lips. As it went on, it got deeper and deeper until she finally broke it. She was waiting for an answer.

Oh. Chris just barely managed to get out a response, "I … Taylor, are you sure?"

"Yes." Taylor took him by the hand, led him to her small private room, and closed the door.

* * *

**Universe S**

"The city itself is in a very grim state right now, but it seems that the three of us specifically are in an even worse situation, and that's why I've called you both here," Armsmaster said as he led Kid Win and Shadow Stalker into his expansive lab complex, entrenched in the basement of the PRT HQ.

The minutes after the confrontation with Jack Slash and the Siberian had been hectic for Chris and Sophia, and the day hadn't slowed down since then. After quickly wrapping the wounds on Chris' leg, they had dressed and called the PRT on the run. Getting confirmation that the Nine were in the city out quickly was obviously important, but it was also obviously important not to draw attention to Shadow Stalker's illicit lair in the warehouse.

They needn't have worried much about Shadow Stalker's probation though, because the PRT was already in a frenzy when they reported in over Mannequin's infiltration of the HQ. The insane Tinker had had a violent confrontation with Armsmaster during their tense meeting with Jack, and then exited the building as stealthily as he'd entered it. With everyone frantically locking the base down, there hadn't been any time or resources for a thorough investigation of their own scene and they'd just gotten pickup from a PRT van.

After that, there had been hasty debriefings, the declaration of a state of emergency, and a large scale effort to resecure the building and lock down all the glass in storage. With all that just winding down, Armsmaster had ordered them to meet him in his lab. Kid Win had already guessed that it was because all three were now involuntary applicants in the Nine's deadly recruitment drive.

Armsmaster moved at his rapid, 'efficient' pace, leading the two of them down an aisle. Kid Win hadn't been here more times than he could count on one hand before now, but he could tell the lab was in more than a bit of disarray after the battle with Mannequin. Even so, everything appeared to be stabilized, and Armsmaster seemed to have different objectives in mind than cleanup right now.

"If we're going to survive this with our bodies and minds intact, we're going to need to work together," Armsmaster continued. "In the normal course of affairs, we can only be willing to escalate so far in the fight against villains, but the Slaughterhouse Nine are just as bad as Leviathan, and have the potential to be just as dangerous. Even worse, the threats of Bonesaw and the Siberian preclude much of the outside help we got in the Endbringer battle, leaving us on our own."

Kid Win had known that for the past year the Slaughterhouse Nine had held the threat of Bonesaw's superplagues over the head of the Protectorate and similar organizations to prevent any sort of real force concentration. Even worse, the Siberian could put a permanent end to any parahuman, up to and including Triumvirate members, discouraging response with assets needed to contain the Endbringers' damage.

"So," Shadow Stalker replied, "Another S-Class threat, no reinforcements, and we're all playing a demented game show on top of that. I assume you're leading us to some gear you made devoted to this exact situation, right?" After a pause, she belatedly added, "Sir."

Kid Win expected Armsmaster to react badly to her outburst, but instead he just responded flatly, "More or less. Except it isn't really my gear." He reached a heavy looking door at the back of the room, and after it ran what looked like a laser scan on his beard, it cracked open to reveal a vault room inside.

Kid Win's eyebrows rose behind his visor. "These are Baduka's bombs. I thought we used most of the stockpile against Leviathan, there's still so much left." He tensed a bit at the sight; Bakuda's penchant for hair-triggers was legendary even after her short career.

Armsmaster explained, "This is everything I didn't have analyzed in time to make sure it was safe to use. Since then, I've been through most of it, and we'll finish tonight. We should be able to modify some of the simpler ones for use with Shadow Stalker's crossbow, and I have hopes that we might achieve something special using them in concert with her phasing ability. The two of us should be able to make use of the more complex devices."

By her hesitant body language, Shadow Stalker seemed even more leery of the room full of bombs than Kid Win had been. "Isn't it supposed to be difficult for Tinkers to use tech that others make? Are we totally sure these bombs won't all go off unexpectedly?"

A female voice answered her over a hidden speaker, "Is a four sigma confidence bound good enough for you? I've been assisting Colin with this project, and my specialty is working with other Tinkertech." Dragon's disembodied voice and mathematical assurances didn't seem to do much for Shadow Stalker's trepidation, but she swallowed and entered the room anyway.

The session consisted mostly of explanations and safety warnings from Armsmaster and Dragon, along with some careful refitting of smaller bombs into packages that could be delivered by crossbow bolt. Kid Win thought it was a little ironic that earlier today they had been worried about Shadow Stalker's cache of merely mundane ammo getting discovered.

Kid Win could see that she was starting to feel a little ancillary after a while, despite her contributions concerning the details of her power and her crossbow. She'd gotten up to stretch, leaning against the closed vault door. He decided that made it as good a time as any to bring up the difficult subject of Armsmaster's encounter and give them all a break from the assembly line.

Kid Win opened hesitantly, "Armsmaster, what happened exactly when you fought Mannequin earlier? We told you in the debrief how Jack Slash was mostly … talkative, but judging by the state of your lab-"

Armsmaster cut him off, "I used to know Sphere, back before the Simurgh got him. He was something of a mentor to me, in fact. He didn't really need words to get his point across."

Kid Win blanched, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Before your time," Armsmaster replied. "Hopefully it won't be me trying to turn you to the dark side in another ten years." The joke fell a bit flat, especially with Dragon.

"Don't say things like that, Colin!" Those six words had more emotion than Kid Win had ever heard from her; she sounded almost frantic at the implication. She continued, more quietly, "I know you'll get through this."

Armsmaster didn't seem sure what to say, but Shadow Stalker filled the silence, "She's right, you know. Giving up is just what they want you to do. The ritual murders, the hit-and-run fights, this whole recruitment game, it's all part of their strategy. They want to convince us that they're the cats and everyone else is the mice. They want us to think the only way to survive is to change our coats and go over to their side. If we accept that before we start, then they've already won." Sophia could be really fucking smart sometimes too.

Armsmaster looked at her seriously, almost as if he'd never really seen her before. "That was well said." After a beat, he continued, "We should get back to work. We need our claws ready in time for the fight, after all."


End file.
